Are you tired of spending hours sifting through potential influencers, only to find yourself drowning in spreadsheets and emails? Well, worry no more! Influencer marketing automation is here to save the day.
Imagine a world where finding the perfect influencer for your brand is as easy as a few clicks. You get to leverage robust databases to streamline your marketing campaigns with a dash of efficiency. Awesome, right?
This blog will unfold all the must-know essentials to set you up for automated influencer marketing. Grab a coffee and join me on this adventure.
Understanding influencer marketing automation
Backlog can take a toll on you, especially when you don’t have a helping hand to clear your mail lists, check your campaign milestones, keep up with your influencers, track campaign analytics, and vet influencer content among others.
The good news is that all these can be automated and done at the click of a button. Think of it like having a virtual assistant to do the heavy lifting for you.
Right from influencer discovery to launching your campaign, your workflows can be managed by influencer marketing software. But what exactly is influencer marketing automation?
It is the use of digital tools to automate campaign workflows. With automated influencer campaigns, you can kiss manual processes goodbye and say hello to data-driven solutions inspired by real time analytics,
When is your brand ready to take the automation plunge?
So when do you know your brand is ripe to jump on the automated workflows bandwagon? There are certain signs to tell you should upgrade your systems. They include:
1. There are growing pains
If you find that your influencer marketing program is growing faster than you anticipated, then it might time you considered influencer marketing automation.
If your plan is to go big on your campaign and onboard numerous influencers to promote your brand image, then it would be wise to adopt automated workflows from the get-go. This way, you can efficiently scale your campaign from the beginning without having to go through the hustle of tedious administration work.
2. The time crunch
When you find that more time is spent in clearing your repetitive backlog rather than crafting effective influencer marketing strategies and creating killer content, then it might be time to reclaim your time with automation.
By automating these repetitive tasks that were rather executed manually, you can reallocate time into more constructive and strategic endeavors.
3. You’re experiencing data FOMO
Statistically, more than 51% of companies in the influencer marketing landscape use automated workflows. Predictions also suggest that influencer marketing automation investments are expected to reach a whooping $17 billion.
With such numbers, it is inevitable to miss out on hard data from the online marketing sphere without automation. It only asserts that online marketing activities are rapidly gaining traction and you do not want to be left out in the guessing games of what your audience needs.
Therefore, harnessing the power of automated platforms can take your campaigns to new heights through real-time data and informed decision-making.
4. Supply chain delays
Are you experiencing delays in product fulfillment or order processing? Are your consumers constantly complaining of delayed dispatch and delivery? An influx of manual processes could be the primary cause of these delays.
Well, influencer marketing automation platforms offer supply chain management solutions to seamlessly process your orders, dispatch, and monitor their delivery in real-time. Talk of bringing efficiency right to the doorstep of your consumers!
5. You’re playing catch-up with influencer payments
Let’s face it – the same energy and vigor you expect your influencers to drive into your campaigns is the same enthusiasm they expect in timely and fair compensation.
Acknowledging that mistakes happen and we’re all human, you might find yourself in the rabbit hole struggling to keep up with timely payments.
This could jeopardize the quality of your influencer relationships, forcing influencers to resort to contract terminations or other legal actions to secure their compensation.
To avoid such events, it is imperative to adopt software tools that could help set payment reminders for prompt compensation or even schedule automatic payments.
Influencer marketing automation will sure help restore some goodwill and trust in your influencer collaborations.
6. Drowning in emails
If you’re managing your email list manually, chances are sorting your emails is not among your top priorities. It is quite obvious that more pressing roles in your strategic planning and campaign management will take precedence.
For this reason, capitalizing on influencer marketing automation tools that allow for seamless communication on CRM platforms will go a long way to centralize duties and track campaign progress.
Such platforms facilitate email automation when users complete certain courses of action, allowing you and your team to focus on other valuable tasks.
5. You have a scalable campaign strategy
As your campaign grows, a need for scalability arises. Automation empowers brands to conduct scalable campaigns through streamlined communication across the network of influencers as well as conduct efficient performance tracking that provides real-time data.
Benefits of influencer marketing automation
The following are the perks of adopting influencer marketing automation for your campaign:
1. Effortless efficiency
As described above, automation not only allows your team to focus on strategic tasks but also leads to efficient use of manpower and resources.
This means that as less time is allocated to routine tasks, there’ll be increased productivity and reduced human error. Ultimately, you’ll save time, energy, and a few gray hairs in the process.
2. Maximized ROI
Increased efficiency leads to higher productivity, which in turn compounds to a higher return on investment. Automation platforms offer data insights and analytics that inform your decision-making processes.
This trickles down to personalizing customer journeys and improving lead management to help shove potential customers toward completing certain actions such as making successful purchases and subscriptions.
Consequently, influencer marketing automation is your crystal ball tool to new heights of success and growth for your campaigns.
3. Supercharged scalability
As you streamline repetitive and routine tasks in your campaign management, your team is able to reallocate quality time to more pressing agendas and concentrate their energy on strategic and creative progress.
This way, your team can handle more campaigns and even manage/engage a larger audience without the need of additional manpower.
4. Improved accuracy
As we say, man is to error. But unlike humans, influencer marketing automation systems work with precision. These systems are programmed to work consistently and at top-notch accuracy. Automation saves you from manually conducting revisions and reviews of content and other mundane operations.
5. Increased productivity and workflow management
As mentioned above, automating mundane tasks increases productivity and ensures seamless workflows within the team. This way, your team has platforms that facilitate their collaboration and communication, thereby getting things done quicker.
Remember, the secret to long-term influencer partnerships is open communication and smooth collaborations, And creating an enabling environment sets you up for success.
6. Cost efficiency
Besides reducing labor costs that would have otherwise been incurred in performing routine tasks, influencer marketing automation systems ensure scalability without increasing costs. The enhanced accuracy also reduces costly expenditures in terms of money and time. As the adage goes, time is money.
7. Agility in campaign management
Influencer marketing automation promotes campaign agility through real time data and insights to enable brands make decisions on the fly.
The consistent monitoring of performance metrics make it easy to make changes efficiently, reallocate the campaign budget to what’s working, and also create a synergy between stakeholders to pushing one agenda.
Whether it’s through implementing an upcoming social media challenge or pushing trending hashtags, influencers can swiftly adapt to what’s selling and keep your brand ahead of the curve.
8. Enhanced compliance
Automation platforms are bound to certain compliance-related operations and guidelines. By adopting these platforms, brands are restricted to the existing industry standards by default.
Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, automation helps enforce regulatory guidelines that marketers would have otherwise not known of without legal counsel.
Additionally, the platforms are programmed to adapt to the compliance regulations of different jurisdictions, both locally and internationally. This helps brands avoid regulatory violations, penalties, and ultimate shutdowns.
Best practices for successful influencer marketing automation
Like any other strategic venture, automation also requires a concrete plan. There are certain attributes that brands should consider when embracing automation. Among them are:
Define your goals
To become a master at your art, you’ve got to set your goals. What are you looking to achieve by automating your campaign management processes?
Your marketing automation strategy should define the who, what, where, when, and how of your automation plan. First, define who your buyer persona is and how automation will benefit them.
Second, what sections of your campaign would you want automated. Is it influencer discover, content management, collaboration, or compensation? Third, where will you meet your audience? What social platforms do you want automation tools to cover?
Fourth, when would you run the automation. This involves setting when you will be live or how frequent your brand interacts with your audience. Lastly, how will you know your plan has been successful.
By answering these fundamentals you will be on the right track to crafting a formidable automation plan.
Choose the right automation tools for your campaign
So you’ve made a list of potential automation platforms that seem right for your brand’s goals. But how do you vet these tools? With a plethora of alternatives in the market, from project management tools to influencer search platforms, it can be quite confusing to single out the best.
That’s where we come handy. Below are some factors to consider when sifting through influencer marketing automation platforms:
Third-party integration tools:
Your automation platform will not be as useful to your brand if it doesn’t support other tools your business relies on.
These may include collaboration platforms, payment gateways, or social media channels that help ensure smooth relationships with your influencers and audience.
Functionality:
Having defined the specific goals of your campaigns, look for software solutions that offer exactly that.
If you’re after influencer discovery, find an ideal influencer search platform. Alternatively, if your interest is in customer management, find an ideal CRM tool that works for you.
Ease of use:
User-friendliness in software solutions is an underrated element. Look for automation tools that are easy to navigate and get work done.
Remember, the sole idea of automation is to make work easier and faster.
Pricing tiers:
When scavenging, pay close attention to the pricing structures of potential marketing automation tools. Do they resonate with your budget or are they off-range?
Furthermore, prioritize transparent pricing structures to ensure there are no hidden costs to bombard you in the future.
Customer support:
Quite so often, new technology may not work as well as well as we’d like it to. This is where extra help from a technical team saves the day.
Therefore, before signing up for a subscription, peruse customer reviews to ensure they have a responsive support team to help you wade through your challenges; because what good are features that you don’t know how to use?
Free trials and demos:
Dig a little deeper to see whether the platform offers a free trial period. Or even whether you can book a demo with the technical team. These two go a long way into revealing how best the platform syncs with your needs.
If present, take advantage of both to experience the service firsthand.
While many sales teams regard trial periods as stabling blocks in the buying process, a good product sells itself and therefore leaves no reason to restrict you from an epic test drive!
Monitor performance and iterate
Other than monitoring your campaign performance through analytical tools offered by automation platforms, request feedback from the stakeholders interacting with the software. Don’t hesitate from engaging your influencers on the feel of the platform.
Are they finding it easy to navigate? Inquire on what features would help catapult their performance and follow up on their functionalities. How efficient does the platform provide feedback on essential campaign metrics such as engagement rates, mentions, impressions, follower growth and ROI versus initial investment?
Use this feedback to concentrate on what’s working. Moreover, you get a chance to know the features that are no longer needed by your stakeholders. Who knows, you might end up saving a few bucks off of premium subscriptions.
How to boost your influencer marketing strategy with automation
The following sections of your influencer marketing strategy can be automated:
- Influencer discovery – leverage influencer finder tools to send outreach emails to potential influencers.
- Communication and collaboration – project management tools allow for open communication and collaboration on projects, fostering healthy relationships among coworkers.
- Content scheduling – say goodbye to manually updating or launching content and embracing running your campaign seamlessly by scheduling when posts should go live.
- Performance tracking – leverage real-time insights on your campaign performance.
- Contract management – centralize contract management for all your stakeholders and save yourself from last minute revisions.
Wrap-up
There you go folks – your influencer marketing automation guide. By automating your campaign program, you can hit project milestones faster and efficiently.
Simplifying your workflows empowers all stakeholders to deliver efficiency, higher scalability, and better decision-making throughout the campaign.
So get ready to sprinkle the magic of automation to your influencer programs and see what happens!